Atari ST games by genre

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

a prehistoric tale

The Lost Boys are one of the biggest names to ever grace the Atari ST demoscene and in 1990 they ventured forth into the commercial gaming industry with A Prehistoric Tale that was released by the mighty Thalion. You've been teleported back in time to a place where dinosaurs roam and a constant threat of being eaten alive but this is the time of sexy cavewomen which all happen to look like Raquel Welch!

It's your task to collect dino eggs and ultimately rescue all mammals from becoming extinct in the future. It’s a long story, so just grab all the eggs and bring them back to the teleport for safe keeping. Unfortunately, there is a time limit and you can only carry only three eggs at once (unless you find an egg basket) plus the levels rapidly increase in difficulty which helps introduce an intense element of panic as you frantically search the screens. To make matters worse, the teleporter changes location after each use, lots of spiders and other various prehistoric critters constantly appear, and you should watch out for the swarms of Pterodactyls!

The graphics are cute and reminiscent of the 8-bit days and do their job perfectly. However, it's the audio which excels, thanks to Jochen Hippel and I'm sure you'll be tapping your foot along to the gorgeous chiptune beats. A Prehistoric Tale is actually very simple but hiding underneath that humble exterior is a rather enjoyable (if frustrating) game. Even the most gifted player will struggle at first but, once you do, it's incredible fun with a great old skool style!

LINKS

- 8BitChip have a hard drive installable download :-)
- Thalion Shrine has an excellent feature and a fascinating site!
- Bleep Blop alternative chiptune goodness by Craig Morris.
- What! A hidden message on the floppy disk?
- The Lost Boys are fully cataloged on the mighty Demozoo.